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| Associação Caboverdiana de Escritores | |
|---|---|
| Name | Associação Caboverdiana de Escritores |
| Formation | 1970s |
| Headquarters | Praia, Santiago |
| Location | Cape Verde |
| Membership | writers, poets, critics |
| Leader title | President |
Associação Caboverdiana de Escritores is a Cape Verdean writers' association based in Praia, Santiago, that brings together poets, novelists, playwrights, and essayists from across the archipelago. The association has played a central role in the careers of figures associated with Lusophone African letters and has interacted with institutions in Lisbon, São Vicente, Mindelo, and international cultural organizations. Through festivals, journals, and prizes it has linked Cape Verdean literature to currents in Lusophone literature, African literature, Lusophone studies, and postcolonial literary networks.
The association traces roots to post-independence cultural mobilizations that involved personalities connected to Alberto Guerreiro Ramos, Amílcar Cabral, António Nobre, José Lopes da Silva, Baltasar Lopes da Silva, Orlanda Amarílis, Germano Almeida, and Manuel Lopes. Early meetings included participants from Praia, Mindelo, São Vicente, Fogo, and Brava and engaged with institutions such as Instituto Camões, Universidade de Cabo Verde, Universidade de Lisboa, Universidade do Porto, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, and Casa de África. The association's formative period coincided with literary currents represented in publications like Claridade, Certeza (magazine), and anthologies of Lusophone African poetry, and it responded to debates shaped by critics linked to Édouard Glissant, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Frantz Fanon, and Aimé Césaire. Key moments include collaborations around festivals with Ribeira Grande Municipality, programs with Instituto do Livro e do Disco, and exchanges with cultural centers in Paris, Lisbon, São Paulo, and Luanda.
The association's governance model mirrors other literary societies such as Associação Portuguesa de Escritores and includes elected officers, regional chapters in Sal, Boavista, and Santo Antão, and committees modeled after practices at Palácio da Cultura Ildo Lobo, Casa da Cultura de Mindelo, and university departments at Universidade de Cabo Verde and Universidade de Santiago. Membership has comprised poets, novelists, dramatists, and historians connected to names like Vitorino Nemésio, Baltasar Lopes, José Luís Tavares, Carmen Sousa Ferreira, Vozinha, and younger authors who studied at Universidade de Coimbra, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Universidade de Cabo Verde, or participated in residencies at Bertrand Livreiros and Casa Fernando Pessoa. The association has maintained links with publishing houses such as Editorial Caminho, Tinta da China, Quetzal, and community presses active in Mindelo and Praia.
Programming has ranged from readings and workshops to festivals and translation projects involving partners such as Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, Instituto Camões, UNESCO, UNDP, CPLP, and municipal cultural services in Praia and Mindelo. The association organizes events timed with observances like Dia Mundial do Livro, collaborates with theater groups staging works by dramatists linked to Teatro Nacional de Cabo Verde, and conducts youth outreach in schools affiliated with Direcção Geral da Educação. It has hosted visiting writers from Portugal, Brazil, Angola, Mozambique, and São Tomé and Príncipe, and participated in book fairs such as the Feira do Livro de Lisboa and festival circuits including Festival Praia da Gamboa and Mindelo Carnival cultural panels. Workshops have connected emerging writers with mentors who studied under figures tied to Claridade and who translated works linked to Fernando Pessoa, Jorge Amado, and Chinua Achebe.
The association has produced journals, anthologies, and critical editions that placed Cape Verdean authors alongside Lusophone peers such as José Saramago, Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, Miguel Torga, Cesária Évora (as cultural figure), and African contemporaries like Alda do Espírito Santo, Pepetela, and António Lobo Antunes. Publications have included collected poetry, short fiction, and scholarly essays used in curricula at Universidade de Cabo Verde and referenced in studies by scholars connected to Centre for African Studies programs and departments at Universidade de Lisboa and SOAS, University of London. The association's editorial projects have supported translations into French, English, and Spanish, enabling inclusion in international anthologies alongside works by Wole Soyinka, Nadine Gordimer, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
Through its prizes and commendations the association has honored achievements comparable to national recognitions like the Prêmio Camões, regional awards given by Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, and municipal prizes in Praia and Mindelo. Laureates associated with the association have received fellowships and residencies at institutions such as PEN International, Casa das Letras, Instituto Camões, and cultural grants from Ministerio da Cultura de Cabo Verde. Honorees often appear in broader Lusophone prize lists alongside names like José Saramago, Lídia Jorge, Germano Almeida, and Alda do Espírito Santo.
The association has sustained partnerships with universities such as Universidade de Cabo Verde, cultural foundations including Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian and Instituto Camões, media outlets like Radio Praia and Rádio Voz de Cabo Verde, and international networks such as CPLP, UNESCO, and PEN International. Its influence is visible in curricula at Universidade de Cabo Verde, festival programming in Mindelo and Praia, and in the careers of writers published by houses like Editorial Caminho and featured in anthologies edited by scholars at SOAS, University of London, Universidade de Lisboa, and Universidade do Porto. The association helped consolidate a literary field that dialogues with Anglophone, Francophone, and Lusophone traditions represented by figures such as Aimé Césaire, Édouard Glissant, Frantz Fanon, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, and contemporaries in Lusophone Africa.
Category:Cape Verdean literature Category:Literary societies